User:Deacon of Pndapetzim/ECE
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[edit] Muscovite period
The first recorded interactions between individual Scots and Russia appear to be due largely to the strong Scottish connection with and settlement in Scandinavia. The earliest Scot known to have visited Russia was an Aberdonian named Petrus Davidis [Peter Davidson?], who in 1495 was sent by King Christian I of Denmark as an ambassador to Ivan III.[2] In 1507, King Hans of Denmark sent four Scottish artillery workers to the Muscovy.[3] In the following half century it is very likely that many non-notable Scots travelled to and from Scandinavia to Russia, though direct proof for this is currently lacking.[4]
When in 1553 the English explorer Richard Chancellor arrived in Norway seeking to discover the North-West Passage, he encountered a number of Scots who were already familiar with the White Sea and the north of Russia.[5] As it happened, when Chancellor returned from Russia with Osip Nepea, the Muscovite ambassador provided to go to England by Ivan the Terrible, their ship was recked at Pettislego, i.e. Pitsligo near Fraserburgh. Chancellor was killed in the wreck, and although Nepea survived, his gifts for Queen Mary Tudor did not.[6]
In the mid-16th century Scots were among the earliest nationalities resident in Moscow's Foreign or "German" Quarter.[5] Writing of Ivan IV's attacks against the Baltic in 1581, the English diplomat Jerome Horsey wrote:
The [Russian] emperor's soldiers and army, far greater in number, ranged far into the Swedes' country and did much spoil and rapine, brought many captives away to remote places in his land, Livonians, French, Scots, Dutchmen, and some English. The emperor settling and seating a great many of them in the city of Moscow to inhabit by themselves without the city ...[5]
Horsey recounts that there were 85 Scots in Moscow from a 700-strong company in Swedish service, and that they had become captive during the Livonian War.[7]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Dukes, ""Scottish Soldiers", p. 11.
- ^ Dukes, "Russia", p. 553; Dukes, "Scottish Soldiers", p. 9.
- ^ Dukes, "Scottish Soldiers", p. 9.
- ^ Dukes, "Scottish Soldiers", pp. 9-10.
- ^ a b c Dukes, "Scottish Soldiers", p. 10.
- ^ Dukes, "Russia", p. 553; Dukes, "Scottish Soldiers", p. 10.
- ^ Dukes, "Scottish Soldiers", pp. 9-10.
[edit] References
- Dukes, Paul, (2001), "Russia", in Michael Lynch (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Oxford: Oxford UP, ISBN 0-19-211696-7, pp. 553-4
- Dukes, Paul, et al., (1987), Caledonian Phalanx: Scots in Russia, Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, ISBN 0902220888
- Dukes, Paul, "Scottish Soldiers in Muscovy", in Paul Dukes et al. Caledonian Phalanx: Scots in Russia, pp. 9-23
